Woolly Mammoth
The Woolly Mammoth (known for being one of the most, if not, the most the most famous, popular, and endangered mammalian animal of the Pleistocene) was a prehistoric relative of modern-day elephants, just as its cousin, the Columbian Mammoth, was. It is undoubtedly one of the most popular animals of the Pleistocene. Woolly Mammoths also lived in huge herds. Woolly Mammoths had a number of adaptations to the cold, most famously the thick layer of shaggy hair, up to 1 meter in length with a fine under wool, for which the woolly mammoth is named. The coats probably moulted in summer to cool off, otherwise it will overheat and die. They also had far smaller ears than modern elephants; the largest mammoth ear found so far was only 30 cm (12 in) long, compared to 180 cm (71 in) for an African elephant. Other characteristic features included a high, peaked head that appears knob-like in many cave paintings and a high shoulder hump resulting from long spines on the neck vertebrae that probably carried fat deposits. Woolly Mammoths had a number of adaptations to the cold, most famously the thick layer of shaggy hair, up to 1 meter in length with a fine under wool, for which the Woolly Mammoth ''is named. The coats probably moulted in summer to cool off, otherwise the mammoth would overheat and die. They also had far smaller ears than modern elephants; the largest mammoth ear found so far was only 30 cm (12 in) long, compared to 180 cm (71 in) for an African elephant. Other characteristic features included a high, peaked head that appears knob-like in many cave paintings and a high shoulder hump resulting from long spines on the neck vertebrae that probably carried fat deposits. These creatures could have weighed up to six tons. These creatures needed plains and grasslands and they had to feed sixteen hours a day. Mammoths could also make a grumbling sound with their stomachs, and they used that to communicate with their herd mates, even if they are dead, they try. If their heads were held low and their ears close to their heads, it could mean that they were sick. If you saw even two adult mammoths that looked similar to each other they were probably females from a same herd. They were more social than the males were and had much smaller tusks than the males. If a member of the herd died, then another member would stay behind. Another feature at times found in cave paintings was confirmed by the discovery of the mummified remains of a baby mammoth. Unlike the trunk lobes of living elephants, Dima's upper lip at the tip of the trunk had a broad lobe feature, while the lower lip had a broad, squarish flap. It is once belived that they lived underground, giving its name, which means "earth mole". The ''Woolly Mammoth was often hunted by Palaeolithic hunters, who also painted it on the walls of caves, engraved its likeness in bony and ivory and made statuettes of it. Like modern day elephants, when in herds, Mammoths were led by one animal, and she was the Matriarch. She could have been 50 or 60 years of age and it was her experience that insured the survival of the herd when the going got tough, and she maintained cohesiveness in the herd. They stopped when she stopped, they slept when she slept, and they fed and drank when she did. If there was a big bull mammoth near a herd, they could be in musth, which means they were ready to mate. When the males were in that state, they had four times the amount of testosterone they normally had and they were looking for a female to mate with. Males can be really irritable and aggressive and a massive herd of mammoths is such an enchanting sites – there were mothers, grandmas and calves, there were aunties, there were sisters…and they all thrived on their grassland diet, which was so rich, so diverse. Grasses and mosses and all sorts of things. And mammoths needed a lot of vegetation. Sometimes, they had to have 180-200kg of grass, twice a man’s weight in food, every single day. Just like modern day elephants, mammoths seem to have had a strong bond between members of the herd. And that’s what the Matriarch did. Whenever there was trouble, she came in to help. Mammoths evolved from hairless ancestors in Africa and have become living fortresses against the cold. (Also, mammoths had small ears and short tails to prevent them from losing too much heat.) Insects were a source of irritation for these animals and the mud Mammoths spray on their head prevented the insects from biting. Until recently it was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and Southern Siberia about 10,000 BC, but new findings show that some were still present there about 8,000 BC. When the ice age retreats, mammoth populations decreased dramatically. Despite this, Palaeolithic hunters had nothing to do with the extinction of the mammoths; when the cold steppes disappeared the end of the last glacial period, the mammoths vanished too, since they were unable to adapt to a different environment. Mammoth populations got smaller because of climate change, but it was them being over–hunting by early peoples that drove them to extinction. .]] Impossible Pictures has featured the woolly mammoths a couple of times. In the final episode of Walking with Beasts, most of the action is centered on a woolly mammoths' herd and their interactions with other Ice Age mammals, including the Neanderthals. In the last episode of Walking with Cavemen, a Neanderthal tribe was shown hunting woolly mammoths once again. And starting with the second episode onwards, a woolly mammoth female named Martha is one of the main animal characters of Prehistoric Park. Appearances *Walking with Beasts *Prehistoric Park *Walking with Cavemen Category:Prehistoric Park Animals Category:Walking with Beasts Animals Category:Mammals Category:Walking with Wikia Category:Walking with Cavemen Animals Category:Sea Monsters Animals Category:Elephants